Two French manufacturers are reverting to bois et toile (wood and fabric) for ultra-modern aircraft. Both of their aircraft will be electrically powered, and both will use non-traditional approaches to construction. In the meantime, both have fairly traditional demonstration models. The French have done wonders with wooden aircraft from the very beginning of aviation. Santos Dumont built the petite Demoiselle with bamboo longerons, for instance, and Henri Mignet crafted his diminutive Pou du Ciel (flea of the sky, or flying flea) from available wood. After World War Two, Messrs Joly and Delemontez fashioned a small single-seater, the Jodel D-9, from wood and ply and powered it with converted VW Kubelwagen engines, Jeep-like German vehicles which littered scrap yards and former battlefields. Avions Mauboussin and Aura Aero use more modern power systems and vastly different approaches to bois and toile structures. Mauboussin Mauboussin goes back to prewar times with small aircraft that look as though they could have come from a …
A Solar-Algae Hybrid for an Atlantic Crossing
Henri Mignet was never quite able to master an airplane with three-axis controls, and built at least seven flawed attempts at simplified controlled flight. His seminal try, the HM-8 Pou de Ciel (literally, Louse of the Sky, or more familiarly, Flying Flea) became first a matter of celebration for amateur aviators and then a cause of scandal, being banned in Britain following a series of fatal crashes. The “formula”, as proponents called Mignet’s tandem wing configuration, was sorted out after wind tunnel tests in England and America uncovered the flaw that caused the craft to pitch down in an unrecoverable dive. (For a well-illustrated history of Mignet’s design, see Henri Mignet and his Flying Fleas by Ken Ellis and Geoff Jones. Although out of print, used copies are available at Alibris and Abe Books, at higher prices than your editor paid for his new copy 25 years ago.) Later models of the formula have proven to be safe, stable fliers, …
Craftsmanship and Courage
Last February, the blog reported on the low-cost Flying Flea formula, four-motored ultralight that Nedo Lavorini built and flew. Unknown to your editor at that time, YouTube has videos of the construction of what turns out to be at least three fuselages. That answers the question of why the aircraft flew with at least two landing gear configurations. Parental and Spousal Warning: You may want to view the video privately before allowing your children (or wife) to see the following. There is a bit of eye candy in Nedo’s workshop, and even the cameraman seems to be distracted momentarily. The flying video gives a new meaning to the term “tree hugger.” The Pulce Elletricca seems not to have a great rate of climb with its four 2 kilowatt Chinese model airplane motors doing their best to lift the 330-pound all-up-weight flea. It’s a heroic effort for the pilot, and the under $5,500 total cost for the nicely crafted machine is certainly …
Pulce Elettrica in Italia
The Pou Guide site has news of this extremely small Flying Flea variant. Nedo Lavorini, a light 76 kilograms (167 pounds) flew his Pulce Electtrica (Electric Flea) of 74 kg (162.8 pounds – with batteries) on June 28, 2009 at 7:30 in the morning. An all-up weight of 150 kg (330 pounds) allows the use of four Chinese model airplane motors of 2 kW each to power the featherweight Flea. Motors are arranged in two pairs, each pair coupled to a reduction drive through a toothed belt, and all four driving a common propeller. 45-Volt, 64 Amp-hour Lithium-polymer batteries provide up to 40 minutes flying time, according to the Guide. The Pulce’s light weight and tandem wings of 5.3 meter (17.93 feet) span with a combined wing area of 13 square meters (just shy of 140 square feet), give a wing loading of a mere 11.54 kilograms per square meter, or 2.37 pounds per square foot – just right for the …
Electrified Minions of Mignet
In the 1930’s, Henri Mignet energized the flying world with his Pou-de-Ciel (literally, Louse of the Sky), which bore the more common and somewhat cuter appelation, “Flying Flea.” Adherents to Mignet’s “formula” of tandem wings and simplified flying controls continue to produce variants on the formula. One of the most interesting is the Pouchel, an ultralight model popular in France with over 120 plans sets sold to members of APEV (Association pour la Promotion des Echelles Volantes – Association for the Promotion of Flying Ladders), which used a commonly available aluminum ladder as its basic fuselage structure. Because of the plane’s popularity and a fear of liability suits that might ensue, the ladder manufacturer asked the organization to forego using that readily available “fuselage.” Pouchelec relies on the same construction as that of the Pouchel Leger (Light), a riveted, ladder-like frame on which to mount the engine, wings or wing mounts, pilot’s seat, landing gear, and rudder. It’s a bit …